Packaged dairy products and process thereof



Patented May 27, 1952 UNITED STATES OFFICE corporation of Delaware N Drawing. ApplicationApril9, i941, Serial No. 740,485

This invention relates to packaged dairy products which acts as a color screenfor shielding commodities that are affected by light. More specifically, it relates to a dairy product color screen which absorbs all of the ultra-violet, violet, and blue, as well as a substantial amount of light in the region delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units of the-spectrum.

Such a screen has been found very effective for enclosing and/or shielding dairy products or commodities such as milk, milk powder, butter, cheese and the like which are aifected by light in the region below 4900 Angstrom units and in the region delimited by 6300-6700 Angstrom units, and which naturally absorb copious amounts of -light in the blue region of the spectrum as well as absorb a lesser amount of light in the red region of the spectrum.

I have found that those wave lengths of light which are most harmful to dairy products are those lying. in the region below 4900 Angstrom units as Well as lying in the region 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units, and that the other wave lengths of the spectrum are not deleterious or harmful to these said products. Therefore, it follows that when a color screen is interposed between the light source and said products or commodities, to intercept and absorb said harmful and deleterious wave lengths of light and transmit to the products limited beneficial wave lengths of light, said products are improved, enhanced and protected.

In the practice of this invention there is :provided a color screen as a shielding element for unripe fruits and vegetables, for dairy products and the like containing vitamins, enzymes and porphyrine, which color screen may be of any suitable material which is translucent, as for example paper, or substantially transparent, but

which is definitely absorbent of light having wave lengths below 4900 Angstrom units and absorbent of wave lengths lying in the region between 6300 and 6700 Angstrom units and therefore to which wave lengths of light the material is substantia'lly opaque. It will be understood on the other hand that an otherwise completely transparent material may be used which, however, has been combined, impregnated, and/or coated with a substance such as to make the material a color screen which is substantially absorbent of or opaque to light as'delimited in the preceding sentence.

'I-t'is desired to be emphasized that the dyestuffs and/or coloring substances which may be utilized in producing such a screen are selected without 12 Claims. (Cl. 99-128) regard 'ior the visual color .efizect but rather .for their light absorptive characteristics in the ultraviolet, violet, and blue regions of the spectrum. and also in'the region delimited by 6300 to 6706 Angstrom units. Further, and more specifically, they are, for example only, a suitable yellow combined with Malachite green, or chlorophyll.

The necessary concentration of the dyes'tufi is dictated by the purpose forwhich the sheet material is to be used.

The effective element of the present invention may be utilized in various forms, as protection shields, plates, caps, tubing, bands, wrapping blankabags and formed containers such as bottles, cartons, -boxes, packs, including linings of bags and formed containers.

In apreferred embodiment the novel and improved article of the invention is in the form of a transparent wrapping for a dairy product comprising a flexible sheet of any of the transparent sheet materials'used in the packaging field, combined with a suitable dyestufi or pigment in sufficient combinations to render the sheet substantially opaque to light waves lying in the region below 4900 Angstrom units and in the region delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units of the spectrum.

The novel feature of the present invention over other known art in this field is pertinent and specific to the region of light absorptions below 4900 and the region delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units in combination with the transmission of all light.

Vegetable oils contain the pigment chlorophyll which accounts for the spectral absorption by the oil or wave lengths of light below 4900 Angstrum units as well as in the region delimited by 6800120 6700 Angstrom units. The color screen used "in the present invention has the property of protecting the oil from deterioration through the development of rancidity, and is an improvement over that disclosed in the Coe Patent No. 1,860,813 in that a higher degree of transpar ency is obtained by this present invention, and there is provided a color screen which is more appealing to the eye from a sales point of view.

This same chlorophyll pigment is present in unripened fruits and vegetables as well as in the absorption characteristics as chlorophyll, and also acts as a photosensitizer when exposed to light. Vitamins and enzymes are in dairy commodities containing the following photosensitizers, namely, porphyrines including chlorophyll and haemoglobin, as well as other photosensitizers, and therefore the characteristics and potency of vitamins and enzymes are more or less controlled by the presence of such photosensitizers. Therefore, the present invention provides a color screen which has for its function the property of absorbing substantially the same light as is absorbed by nature in growing vegetation and in meat and meat products;

The well-known Grotthus-Draper law states that where there is photochemical absorption there is usually photochemical action, which may and usually does result deleteriously in the case of fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. As a result of numerous experiments, I have discovered that each of Malachite green, Monastrel green or Fast green (A-5832), with the addition of a suitable yellow dye or pigment, can be used to produce a color screen having a spectral absorption in the regions specified above.

The effectiveness of my color screen does not depend on the color as seen by the eye, but on the spectral properties of this screen as hereinabove stated. Suitable dyestuffs and coloring matters for use in this invention are those which absorb appreciably, or are substantially opaque to, the wave lengths of light in the ultra-violet, violet and blue regions and in the region delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units of the spectrum.

The dyestuff or coloring matter may be incorporated in the screen material either during or after the manufacture thereof. It is preferred that the dyestuff, or the coloring matter, or the light absorbing material be present in this protective element in such a concentration that the light transmission in the specified regions of absorption is not greater than 10% and preferably less than 5%, i. e. in the region below 4900 Angstrom units, and is preferably less than in the region delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units.

The color screen may comprise materials normally translucent or transparent to visible light; for example, glass, glassine, synthetic plastics, gelatin, casein, synthetic resins of various types, non-fibrous cellulosic materials, such as regenerated cellulose, and cellulose derivatives, as cellulose esters, cellulose ethers, and cellulose oxyethers; or composite materials containing two or more of the above mentioned substances, viz. impregnated and/or coated materials, such as lacquered glass or lacquered regenerated cellulose, as well as laminated products comprising laminated glass, paper, textiles (especially silk), and the like.

Although the above remarks have applied more especially to the case where the dyestuff is combined with dyed or impregnated in the shielding element, the invention also contemplates employing a protective element which may be coated with a substance or material rendering the element substantially opaque to light below 4900 Angstrom units and also to light of the region of the visible spectrum delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units.

In carrying on my experiments since the issuance of my Patent No. 1,880,813 I have discovered that the products hereinbefore mentioned, as well as oils, fats and waxes need not have excluded therefrom all light having wave lengths above 5600 Angstrom units and in fact beneficial results have been obtained by extending the region of transmission from 4900 upwards with the exception of a critical region substantially delimited by 6300 to 6700 Angstrom units. This region 6300 to 6700 has been proved to be critical in that it constitutes the substantial equivalent of nature's chlorophyll, and/ or haemoglobin, and hence the resultant color screen should have a pigmentation or color which will absorb wave lengths of light lying in this critical region.

The present application is a continuation-inpart of my copending application Serial No. 406,909, filed August 14, 1941, now Patent No. 2,418,818, granted April 15, 1947.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction as well as the arrangements of parts constituting the articles of this invention, as well as vary the steps and combinations of steps constituting the method covered by this invention, without departing from the spirit of this invention, and therefore it is desired not to be limited to the exact foregoing disclosure, except as may be required by the claims.

I claim:

1. The process of inhibiting deleterious photochemical action in edible dairy products containing a light-sensitive constituent which normally would result from the absorption thereby of certain wave lengths of light, which comprises shielding the product from rays of light with a material such as to admit to the commodity those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

2. The process of inhibiting deleterious photochemical action in an edible milk product containing porphyrins, which normally would result from the absorption thereby of certain wave lengths of light, which comprise shielding the product from rays of light with a material such as to admit to the commodity those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

3. The process of inhibiting deleterious photochemical action in milk which normally would result from the absorption thereby of certain wave lengths of light, which comprise shielding the milk from rays of light with a material such as to admit to the commodity those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

4. The process of inhibiting deleterious photochemical action in milk powder which normally would result from the absorption thereby of certain wave lengths of light, which comprise shielding the milk powder from rays of light with a material such as to admit to the commodity those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

5. The process of inhibiting deleterious protochemical action in butter which normally would result from the absorption thereby of certain wave lengths of light, which comprises shielding the butter from rays of light with a material such as to admit to the commodity those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

6. An article of commerce comprising an edible dairy product. a material shielding said dairy product from rays of light, said material having the property of admitting to the product those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

7. An article of commerce comprising an edible milk product containing porphyrins, a material shielding said milk product from rays of light, said material having the property of admitting to the product those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

8. An article of commerce comprising milk powder, a material shielding said milk powder from rays of light, said material having the property of admitting to the milk powder those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above approximately 6700 Angstrom units while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

9. An article of commerce comprising butter, a material shielding said butter from'rays of light, said material having the property of admitting to the butter those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as approximately 6700 Angstrom units while exeluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

10. An article of commerce comprising milk packaged in a container to shield the milk from rays of light, said container having the property of admitting to the milk those wave lengths of light between approximately 4900 and 6300 as well as above 6700 Angstrom um'ts while excluding wave lengths of light in all other regions.

11. An article of commerce comprising an edible dairy product containing a light-sensitive constituent and a light shielding enclosing wrapper therefor, said wrapper being such as to admit REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name. Date 1,880,813 Coe Oct. 4, 1932 2,038,114 Joseph Apr. 21, 1936 2,042,333 Coe May 26, 1936 2,043,860 Morgan June 9, 1936 2,058,786 Grant Oct. 27, 1936 2,062,179 Hunter Nov. 24, 1936 2,158,610 Coe May 16, 1939 2,418,818 Coe Apr. 15, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 560,714 Great Britain Apr. 18, 1944 OTHER REFERENCES History of Three Color Photography, Wall, publication by American Photographic Publishing Company, 1925, pages 71 and 72.

Wratten Light Filters, 1929, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York, pages 36, 43, 45, and 46.

Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, August 1933, vol. 25, pages 923 and 924.

Davies: "Food article entitled The Efiect of Colored Wrappers on the Fat of Fatty Foods,"

pages 423 and 424. 

1. THE PROCESS OF INHIBITING DELETERIOUS PHOTOCHEMICAL ACTION IN EDIBLE DAIRY PRODUCTS CONTAINING A LIGHT-SENSITIVE CONSTITUENT WHICH NORMALLY WOULD RESULT FROM THE ABSORPTION THEREBY OF CERTAIN WAVE LENGTHS OF LIGHT, WHICH COMPRISES SHIELDING THE PRODUCT FROM RAYS OF LIGHT WITH A MATERIAL SUCH AS TO ADMIT TO THE COMMODITY THOSE WAVE LENGTHS OF LIGHT BETWEEN APPROXIMATELY 4900 AND 6300 AS WELL AS ABOVE APPROXIMATELY 67000 ANGSTROM UNITS WHILE EXCLUDING WAVE LENGTHS OF LIGHT IN ALL OTHER REGIONS. 